HOMES VISION
JEZ DAVISON
A STOCKTON woman has made Teesside the launch pad for an ambitious scheme to build a portfolio of luxury care home communities across the North of England.
Former estate agent Angela Swift and her husband have ploughed £1.5m of their savings into the venture, which will see the £5m Reuben Manor care home open for business in Yarm next May.
Angela’s daughter Jenna is also involved in the business which has been funded with £3.5m from Royal Bank of Scotland.
The home will create “a community feel” and include an internet cafe, gift shop, landscaped gardens, a jukebox and a “memory lane” area in which residents can recreate their history with drawings and memorabilia.
The 82-bed home, which will be split into wings of 15 beds, will create up to 60 permanent and part-time jobs and become a model for the roll-out of other operations in Teesside, Pontefract and Burnley.
Ms Swift has already secured land for a second home on Teesside - due to start construction next year - and hopes to secure additional funding to have five homes in operation within five years.
After visiting more than 100 care homes in the UK, she was “disappointed by the lack of innovation” in care home provision.
She said residents need to live in an engaging environment.
“The chosen design and facilities have been selected as a result of our own previous experience and research we conducted on care home design and the facilities and care support people would like to see.”
Ms Swift, who now lives in Leeds, gave up her former job as a manager of Stockton-based Browns Estate Agency to begin researching the venture four years ago.
From January she will embark on a drive to recruit nurses, care staff, housekeepers, gardeners and chefs for Reuben Manor, which is set in 1.2 acres close to Yarm High Street.
She is working closely with Harrogate-based interior designers, Carey Haddadi, to fit out the home with colours and textures that aid residents with dementia.
Director Maryam Carey, who was involved in the design of The Priory in London, said: “Subtle use of colour, lighting and pictures can identify key locations within the home so that residents with dementia don’t get lost.
“These landmarks give the resident some form of reference point.”
Robert Smith, senior relationship manager, commercial banking at RBS, said: “Angela and Jenna have shown great passion in researching the care home sector to determine the design of Reuben Manor.
“There has already been a great deal of interest and I am sure demand for places will remain high once it opens.”
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